Defense Rules as Badgers Beat Down Illinois 57-43

Defense Rules as Badgers Beat Down Illinois 57-43

Defense can win you championships in football, and the Wisconsin Badgers basketball team is taking that motto to the hardwood this season. On Tuesday it rode a great defensive effort to a 57-43 victory over the Illinois Fighting Illini.

It was Wisconsin’s 11th-straight win over the Illini, while extending its streak to 15 of the last 16 games on this season overall.

Proving that defense mattered most was sophomore Ethan Happ, who poured in a quiet offensive double-double with 14 points to go with 13 rebounds and two steals. Happ was joined in double digits on the score sheet by forward Nigel Hayes (11), who also showed up big time defensively with eight rebounds and a steal.

After struggling from the field for about 38 minutes against Rutgers, there were no such struggles for the Badgers in their win over Illinois on Tuesday night. Wisconsin came out blistering from the field, opening up a 9-0 lead inside the first four minutes of the game.

Koenig led all Badgers with all nine of his points in the first half. But, it was a balanced scoring effort that led UW to its halftime advantage.

Eight of 10 players to see the court for Wisconsin had at least two points by the end of the half, with only Aaron Moesch and Charlie Thomas failing to get on the scoreboard.

UW started the half shooting 4 of 5 from the field and eventually took its lead to as many as 14 points in the half. However, the Badgers did cool off and were just 1-of-8 shooting to end the half.

That lone basket was a put back at the end of the half to put Wisconsin up 33-20 at intermission. Not much changed after the break, as Wisconsin’s lead was pushed in to single digits quickly and often in the second half.

Despite the Illini’s best efforts to make it a game, Wisconsin had an answer every time and eventually pushed a six-point lead with 10:55 to play all the way back up to 14 points with an 8-1 run over then next 3:35 of the game.

It was the final statement of dominance that the Badgers needed to make, as they never led by less than 12 points again in the contest.

Observations:

Wisconsin has been great defensively all year long, and that helped them on Tuesday night. As has been the case for most of the year, the Badgers found themselves holding a team to a season-low. This time it was the 20 points they held Illinois to — its lowest output in a half this season. That was matched as Illinois only mustered 43 points, which was the 11th time the Badgers put a season-low scoring night on an opponent.

Don’t look now, but Khalil Iverson is becoming more than just a high-flyer. He isn’t exactly known as a three-point threat, but he matched his season output with two made three-pointers on Tuesday night. Not only that, but he also had two blocks and three steals to make Illinois’ life difficult when he was on the court.

Perhaps the most impressive part of this game was Wisconsin’s ability to never panic. Illinois made a game of it a few times, but every time the game got to a single-digit lead for the Badgers someone had an answer. Whether it was Hayes with a huge slam or Showalter with the clutch triple, this team was cool and calm and it led to them never really being out of control in the win.

Up Next:

Wisconsin will return to the Kohl Center to take on Indiana on Sunday, Feb. 5 at Noon on CBS.

Former Badger Jon Leur traded to Milwaukee Bucks

They say you can always go home, and for one former Wisconsin Badger he’s coming back to a state he called home for four years.

Former Badgers forward Jon Leuer was traded early on Thursday morning from the Detroit Pistons to the Milwaukee Bucks. In exchange for Leuer, the Bucks gave up the 30th overall pick in tonight’s NBA Draft and traded away Tony Snell.

Last season, Leuer played in 41 games for the Pistons and made just one start. He averaged 3.8 points and 2.4 rebounds per game in his ninth season in the NBA.

Leuer is a very similar player to Snell, but comes at a much more team-friendly salary.

In trading away Snell, the Bucks free up an additional $4 million in salary this year and another $12 million next year.

This could be seen as a way for the Bucks to pony up the big money that Khris Middleton wants from the team in order to stay in Milwaukee.

As for Leuer, he is 17th on the all-time Badgers scoring list with 1,376 points to his name. He also finished his career with 551 rebounds.

Leuer’s final season in Madison was his best statistically, as he helped lead the 2010-11 Badgers team to the Sweet 16. He averaged 18.3 points and 7.2 rebounds per game that year.

Badgers basketball land Davis twins

After missing out on the Hauser brothers late last month, the Wisconsin Badgers added a different pair of siblings on Saturday night.

Following an offer to the brother of 4-star shooting guard Johnny Davis and an appearance at a team camp this weekend, the Davis brothers announced their pledge to the Badgers according to Badger247.

It took less than a week after head coach Greg Gard gave the O.K. to offer Jordan for the pair to commit to Wisconsin.

Johnny held offers from Marquette, West Virginia, Iowa, Minnesota, DePaul, UNLV and others.

Jordan had offers from UW-Milwaukee and Green Bay, while also becoming a sought after recruit on the football field as well. Once he became serious about wanting to play basketball first, it seemed like a matter of time before Wisconsin offered.

That time came after seeing Jordan play in a camp last weekend.

It also came because it was time to figure out if Johnny was serious about the Badgers or not.

With the July evaluation period coming up, Wisconsin’s coaching staff put the final chips in the middle with this recruitment and it appeared to pay off.

Johnny joins as the No. 141 ranked player in the country and the No. 14 ranked combo guard in the nation according to the 247Sports composite rankings.

The twins will join Detroit, Mich. native Lorne Bowman in the 2020 class.

Wisconsin still has one scholarship available in the class as well, which is likely being held for 5-star and Wisconsin native Jalen Johnson.

After missing out on talented in-state players over and over again, this was a major win for Gard and his coaching staff considering how hard schools like West Virginia and Marquette were after Johnny’s commitment.

As for Jordan, it appears the coaching staff believes he is improving enough to get a scholarship and continue his improvement with this program.

Offers don’t come out just because it may win over a different recruit at Wisconsin. That wasn’t Bo Ryan’s style and it also isn’t Greg Gard’s style.

The trio of players put the Badgers at No. 8 in the country and No. 3 in the Big Ten in the 2020 class as of today.

Former Badgers get No. 2 seed in The Basketball Tournament Columbus regional

Who doesn’t want $2 million? That’s the prize at stake for winning The Basketball Tournament and a group of former Wisconsin Badgers want in.

On Tuesday it was officially announced that the Kohl Blooded team — spearheaded by former Badgers point guard Kam Taylor — will be the No. 2 seed in the Columbus regional.

They will take on No. 7 seed Mid-American Unity, which is making its second appearance in the TBT after a year off. That group represents teams from across the Mid-American conference.

As for the Badgers, the roster will be made up of some very strong names from the past. The headline names include members of the back-to-back Final Four teams in Nigel Hayes and Vitto Brown. Also joining will be Jordan Taylor, Ryan Evans, Trevon Hughes and recent grad Charles Thomas. You can see the full roster here.

The regionals will take place July 19-21 in Columbus with the winner of this regional meeting seven other winners in Chicago for championship week.

All games will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks, so you should be able to find them either streaming or on cable television.

Badgers play final card in attempt to land 2020 G Johnny Davis

A week after losing out on Joey and Sam Hauser, the Wisconsin Badgers basketball program needs some positive momentum on the player acquisition front.

With three scholarships available in the 2020 class and two top in-state players in their sites, the Badgers coaching staff has been about as patient as possible.

On Wednesday, Badger247 reports that UW has offered Jordan Davis, the twin brother of top target Johnny Davis. It’s not a walk-on or grayshirt, but a full scholarship offer.

After two years of waiting for that offer to come, it finally did.

Jordan is an unranked player in basketball at this time, but I expect that to change once the scouting services catch wind of this offer. Johnny Davis is the No. 131 ranked player in the country, a 4-star rated prospect and the No. 3 ranked player in the state of Wisconsin in the 2020 class.

With the brothers set to make a weekend visit for team camp in two weeks, this is a move that undoubtably puts the pressure squarely on Johnny Davis at this point.

Simply put, the Badgers need to know if Davis is going to commit or if they need to move on.

Offering Jordan a full ride is about the only thing left in the Badgers quiver at this point. If getting the dream of playing basketball together at the same school and in-state no less doesn’t tip the scales, at least the Badgers know they can move on.

Is it a desperate move? In some ways one could see it as such. Clearly the Badgers want Johnny in a major way and they see offering Jordan as a critical move that could separate themselves from the competition.

However, this also isn’t a coaching staff willing to just throw away a scholarship in an effort to get a coveted player to play for them. That’s simply not Greg Gard’s style.

Jordan is also a player they see as a contributor, or he wasn’t getting an offer. Plain and simple.

There’s no doubt that this move ups the pressure, like I mentioned before. But, that’s not a bad thing, as UW needs to know where they stand heading in to July’s evaluation period.

If the Davis brothers can’t commit or at least internally give the coaching staff the information that will make them feel comfortable, they need to start getting offers out to other big time players whom they’ve been waiting to offer.

Consider UW is an underdog to land in-state five-star prospect Jalen Johnson, and you have to consider this move a smart one for the long term prospects of the 2020 class.

Will the Davis twins jump at the offer to play together at Wisconsin?

Some in the recruiting world believe this was the situation that was holding Wisconsin back all along. So, don’t be surprised to see this affect the recruitment of both players in a big way.

As for Jordan, his game has also caught the attention of Iowa and Minnesota and he did have scholarship offers from both Green Bay and Milwaukee prior to this one.

What may have really held the Badgers coaching staff and others back was the fact that Jordan is also a good player on the football side and wasn’t sure which sport he wanted to pick.

It seems like UW has gotten the clue that Jordan may be more receptive to a basketball future and pulled the trigger on the offer.

We’ll see how much longer the two stay uncommitted, but don’t be surprised to see something happen following July’s AAU season.

Letting that play out and getting all the offers out there on the table is just a smart move for the twins. From there, it’s up to them and clearly the Badgers have left no stone unturned in this situation.